Alcohol: Limit your drinking to one cocktail, beer, or glass of wine each day, if any.

You may also need to make other adjustments in the way you eat and drink. These adjustments can ease your heart's workload and help you feel better. A care provider or dietitian can give you specific guidelines and suggestions.

Healthy Additions

At the same time that you're limiting salt, fluids, and alcohol in your diet, you can be adding healthy foods for balance. This means eating moderate amounts of the following:

Fresh and dried fruits and vegetables

Low-fat, low-salt cheeses

Cooking oils, such as olive, canola, and safflower oil

Fresh fish, chicken, and turkey

Lean cuts of beef, veal, pork, and lamb

Breads, cereal, grain, and other starches (potatoes, pasta)

Limiting Salt in Your Diet

Most healthcare providers will recommend that you eat less than 2,000 mg of salt (sodium) per day. To meet this goal, you'll need to follow a low-salt (low-sodium) diet. In addition to following the guidelines given by your healthcare providers, you should develop the following habits as part of your low-salt diet:

Take the salt shaker off the table. If it's not there, you can't use it!

Ask that your food be prepared with less salt (or no salt) when eating out.

Limiting Your Fluid Intake

Another way to reduce the fluid retention caused by your heart failure is to drink less fluid - only 8 cups a day (64 ounces). Keep in mind that feeling thirsty doesn't mean your body needs more fluid. So, instead of drinking liquids when you're thirsty, try these alternatives:

Chewing gum

Sucking on ice chips or hard candy

Rinsing your mouth with water

See our Heart Failure Fluid Tracker to help you calculate how much fluid you drink each day. As you can see, this still allows you to drink a fairly normal amount of fluid per day.

Limiting Your Alcohol Consumption

Here are a couple of good reasons to limit your alcohol intake to one drink per day:

It helps limit your fluid intake to reduce the strain on your heart.

It prevents heart muscle damage that may be caused by more-than-moderate alcohol use.

Your one-drink limit allows one beer, glass of wine, or cocktail each day.